Nirvana and Reincarnation

[cesar]

So in our class we talked about how Nirvana was sort of this enlightened state of spiritual knowledge and how reincarnation is how we resurrected after death according to how we lived out lives. So we said how if we lived a good life as humans we would reincarnate into someone that has more wealth and power or that's in a higher position within society. But if Nirvana is the goal of Hinduism and its defined to be something spiritual and more materialistic; wouldn't it mean that resurrecting into someone richer prevent us from reaching Nirvana since we would be living around mostly material surroundings?


Definition of Nirvana: dictionary.reference.com

[elijahlee]

I hadn't thought about that Cesar nice observation. Well now that I think about it though maybe its set up in a sense where the understanding is that it gets harder to be able to balance the spiritual and material world better. But I think the real point of controlling the society through these classes was for the reasons we discussed in class. They were supposed to just accept the class they were put in. I'm betting the person who came up with the system was from a higher class.... And they used the system to have a religious backing for their power and wealth

[minjaeyang]

I disagree with the statement that resurrecting into someone richer will prevent us from reaching Nirvana. This is because reaching Nirvana depends on person's attitude. It is not always true that people who are richer only care about materialistic needs. Since they are already rich, they can easily help others. While poor people need to take care of oneself first, rich people can share their wealth. Therefore, they can donate their money to people who need them. Thus, I think that rich can easily reach Nirvana as well.

[joannekim]

Nirvana is state of enlightenment, in which one is free from desires, hatred, and other bad feelings. If one fails to achieve Nirvana, then one goes through another reincarnation, considered suffering, and has another life based on previous karma. So, it means that anyone from any social class can achieve Nirvana. I agree with Elijah that this concept could be used by high class to control lower class so that poor people would not complain much. I also agree with MinJae that being richer does not prevent one from reaching Nirvana since anyone, poor or rich, can free oneself from desires and be enlightened.

[joon]

Personally, I think that the belief of reincarnation into a higher caste as a reward for acting good was a way of uniting the culture and giving people an incentive to be good and righteous. I think it was a way of making the culture and society stronger, because it made people stick to the religion's doctrine and way of life and accept the position that they were in.

I think that the religion believed that people could reach Nirvana despite their materialistic fortunes. My thought was that since the rich people were rewarded for they're religious excellence (?) in their previous life, material goods don't affect them much because they have already reached a certain amount of enlightenment. And maybe to them, that is the last test to reaching Nirvana: fighting off secular temptation and achieving enlightenment.

An example is Gautama Buddha, who is considered the embodiment of Vishnu, one of the highest gods. He was born in a royal Hindu family, and had a very prosperous life. However, he decides to throw his fortune away to pursue spiritual enlightenment. Eventually, he reaches Nirvana and is a guide of life for the religion.

[sarahlee2]

I think that even if you were born into a wealthy class, you can still follow the Hinduistic principles and live a good life. Because you have more money, I think it gives you more opportunity to help the poor and other people. I guess by the time you reach the wealthy class and do your duty there, you would reach Nirvana there and then finally reach peace where you don't have to live in the earthly world anymore.

[minchoi0923]

I like how you are approaching to this Cesar (: it made me think twice..
Anyways, I do agree with you how it might be a paradox that being born to a wealthy class might prevent us from reaching complete nirvana. However, I don't really think being materialistic is the direct opposite of being spiritual. Although people sometimes get disrupted from being spiritual because they are so fed up with materialistic goods, that doesn't really apply to EVERYONE in the society. Like Sarah mentioned, even if you were born into a wealthy class, you can still follow Hinduistic values.

[delmanykkfs]

Well... I do not know if rich people cannot reach nirvana just because you are rich. I think since people are rich, they do not have any problem in their lives that they do not need to feel they have to be spiritual. I think i can take it into my experience too. I think i do not feel any problem with money, but i try to be spirtiual. Having money deos not mean you dont follow religious values.

[franicaza95]

I think money will make it hard for rich people to reach nirvana and spiritual enlightenment but thats also a test for them. You need to ignore the temptations and reach nirvana, or act better and be reborn into a higher position.